Capitals 5, Thrashers 2

ATLANTA (AP) - With four of the next five games on the road, Sergei Gonchar knew the Washington Capitals desperately needed to build some confidence.

The fifth-year defenseman joined four teammates in scoring one goal each in a 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday night.

The Capitals ended a four-game road losing streak and fine tuned their defense for Friday's game at Eastern Conference leader New Jersey.

``We don't have that many good scorers,'' Gonchar said after scoring his seventh goal in 12 games. ``I thought we played very good defense. We had some key saves in the first period, and when the team plays good defense, we have to go out and score some.''

With Atlanta ahead 1-0, Gonchar started a Capitals scoring spree with his eighth goal - a 50-foot slap shot.

Mike Eagles capped the run, which covered 1:24, by redirecting Ken Klee's slap shot for a 3-1 lead with 3:20 remaining in first period.

``We've got to worry about our end,'' said Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig, who faced only 16 shots. ``When we take care of our end, we do a much better job overall.''

The Capitals fell behind 5:15 into the first period when Andrew Brunette was credited with a goal after Kolzig inadvertently knocked the puck in with his stick.

Washington, which entered with the NHL's fifth-best penalty killing unit, completely outmatched Atlanta, which came in with the league's third-worst power-play unit. The Thrashers fell to 20-for-177 on power-play opportunities.

Fankhouser, who stopped 19 shots, lost his second straight decision.

``There is no easy game for this team,'' Fankhouser said. ``We always have to play our best. We are not the greatest skill team in the league - I think everyone knows that. For us to win, we have to come out and play our hardest and play our game, or else we don't have a chance.''

Andrei Nikolishin put the game out of reach with 15:57 remaining by stealing the puck from Patrik Stefan at the Atlanta blue line and skating uncontested toward Fankhouser.

Nikolishin faked a shot before slipping the puck under the goalie's stick for a 4-1 lead.